Shane Spencer’s PED Bombshell Didn’t Actually Happen

It appears false MLB steroid accusations and admissions are the new Twitter death hoaxes.

It appears false MLB steroid accusations and admissions are the new Twitter death hoaxes. One week after Jack Clark's false revelation about Albert Pujols' PED use, another radio audience was duped H.G. Wells style. On Monday, a man claiming to be former Yankees outfielder Shane Spencer called into 104.5 The Team for a scheduled interview and spoke in great detail about steroids in the Yankees clubhouse during his brief tenure from 1998 – 2002. What he said isn't worth repeating because unfortunately, it wasn't him.

In response to the interview, Spencer released a statement to ESPN and other outlets. There are no leads as to who perpetrated the hoax, but until Monday not many baseball fans remembered who the real Shane Spencer was.

A podcast of the interview, with host Mike Lindsley of ESPN Radio 104.5 The Team, remained on the station's website until nearly 6 p.m. Tuesday until it was taken down after the hoax was discovered.

By then, the content of the interview — the bogus "Spencer'' claimed to have taken steroids as a Yankee — had reached the Yankees clubhouse; Derek Jeter, whose name was mentioned by the hoaxster, listened to it shortly before Tuesday's game against the Angels and had Charlie Wonsowicz, the Yankees head video coordinator, call the real Shane Spencer in the clubhouse of the Somerset Patriots of the independent Atlantic League, for whom he serves as the hitting coach.

"I listened to (the interview) for about a minute and I about threw up,'' Spencer told ESPNNewYork.com by telephone Tuesday night. "I just want it out there that it wasn't me.''